“Then I shall scatter
you among the nations and disperse you among the lands and remove all your
contamination from you.” (This week’s Haftara). We must remind ourselves:
all our troubles – and there are so many! – are for one purpose only: our
merciful Father is removing our contamination in order that we may return to
Him in purity!
The secular media these days is filled with accusations
against Am Yisroel. One might feel
that the entire world is turning against us. My friends, this is correct: the
entire world is in fact turning against us. The scene is reminiscent of the
days before World War II, but the stage is the entire world. We must be
realistic about this.
The days of Sefira
(Counting the Omer) represent a period of increasing spiritual elevation leading
up to the moment at which we meet Hashem at Mount Sinai. It was during these
days that the twenty-four thousand – can we process this number! – students of
Rabbi Akiva died, which Rabbi Moshe Heineman characterizes as a “greater catastrophe” than the destruction
of the two Temples in Jerusalem!
(Halachos Sefiras Ha-omer and Shavuos, page 22)
During Passover, we say Hallel
every day, which is like standing next to King David and praising Hashem! We
say the words “all the nations encircle
me … surround me” three times. (Psalm
118) Our Rabbis (Midrash Tehillim
109) explain that this is a reference to the three-part war which will take
place before the coming of Moshiach. (Redemption
Unfolding, Chapter 13)
My friends, we must understand that the tests and
accusations we are undergoing now are not accidents. They are preparing us for
the moment in which Torah will once again come forth from Yerushalayim and the
entire world recognizes G-d’s Presence.
The Chofetz Chaim characterized “chevlei Moshiach” (the “birth pangs of Messiah, the period in which
we find ourselves now) as a period during which a rope (“chevel”) will swing wildly through the world. One must grasp
tightly onto the rope of Torah to seek safety in the storm. This needs
strength, but it will not be beyond our ability, for Hashem is merciful. (Source: Rabbi Yitzchok Tzvi Schwartz
writing in Yated Ne’eman, 2015)
Several weeks ago my wife and I were in the Negev. This year the Land of Israel was
blessed with abundant rainfall, and we saw the desert in bloom! As the Prophet says,
“Your eyes will behold the King in His
splendor … the desert will be glad and blossom like a lily. It will blossom
abundantly and will rejoice with … glad song. (Isaiah 33:17-35:2)
Would you believe that, right up to the border of Gaza,
there are Jewish fields alive with wheat and flowers and trees! And peah! A farmer left peah in his field in the shadow of Gaza! (“Peah” is the Biblical Law under which a Jewish farmer is required
to leave a corner of his field for the poor to gather food.)
Can you imagine this! “Mi
k’amcha … Yisroel, goy echad b’aretz … Who is like Your people Israel, one
nation on earth!” (II Samuel 7:23)
“Hashem is my shepherd… Though I walk in
the valley overshadowed by death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. You
prepare a table before me in full view of my tormenters.” (Psalm
23)
May we soon
see the Day of our complete Redemption!
PICTURE CAPTIONS
Picture 1) Pe’ah in the shadow of Gaza
Picture 2) “A land of wheat … where you will eat bread
without poverty.” (Dvarim 8:8-9)